500 IN PHILIPPINES LOST AS SHIP SINKS

By SETH MYDANS, Special to the New York Times

Published: October 26, 1988

MANILA, Wednesday, Oct. 26—
An inter-island ferry carrying more than 500 people sank Monday in a typhoon, and officials said this morning that they feared that most had drowned.

The Coast Guard said it could confirm only 15 survivors, as the storm abated. The shipping line said 518 passengers and crew members had been aboard.

''I think that most are dead,'' said Brig. Gen. Lorenzo Mateo, a district military commander on the island of Leyte, where the ferry, the 2,855-ton Dona Marilyn, was heading on a run from Manila.

The ferry, which reported engine trouble shortly before sinking in rough seas, had taken over the route of a sister vessel, the Dona Paz, which sank last December. The official death toll in that disaster was put at 1,749, but unofficial estimates put the toll at 3,000. Ferry at Double Capacity

The sinking of the Dona Marilyn came as the typhoon, designated Ruby, swept through the Philippines, bringing high winds and flash floods that killed more than 100 people and left more than 100,000 homeless, according to the Red Cross and other relief agencies.

A spokesman for the ship's owners, Sulpicio Lines, said the Dona Marilyn was carrying 451 passengers and 67 crew members, but it is common for the aging ferries that link the 7,000 islands of the Philippines to carry many unregistered passengers.

Relatives who gathered at the shipping line's offices on Tuesday said that many passengers had boarded without buying tickets ashore.

The Dona Paz was estimated to have sunk with double the number of passengers for which she was licensed. Bus Destroyed, Killing 35

Captain Samuel Cortez, the coast Guard's district commander for the central Philippines, said the Dona Marilyn sank at the height of the typhoon near Maripipi island, 300 miles southeast of Manila.

The death toll from the storm was expected to rise above early reports of around 70 as information is collected from isolated areas.

The typhoon, the 17th to hit the Philippines this year, killed 35 people when their bus was blown off a wooden bridge in the central province of Antique, the military said.

The Red Cross said at least 11 people died and 25 were missing in floods in Cagayan de Oro, on Mindanao island. Family Swept Away

Among those drowned were a family of five whose shanty home was swept away during the night. ''They were apparently all sleeping,'' said the city administrator, Bob Roa. ''Suddenly their house was gone and they were gone.''

A presidential spokesman said the worst flooding was in Manila, where high waters drove 6,000 families from their homes.

The Mayor of the Marikina section of Manila said 11 people had drowned, including several children. Helicopters plucked survivors from trees and rooftops.

Electricity and telephone lines were blown down and cars were submerged in parts of Manila. The capital and other towns and cities throughout the country were without power for several hours.

On Tuesday the Department of Agriculture said the typhoon had destroyed thousands of acres of crops valued at $8 million, and the highways department said it had caused $10 million in damage, including the destruction of 10 bridges.

Captain Cortez said a cargo ship rescued eight passengers from the Dona Marilyn on Maripipi island near Leyte and that ''ships are now scouring the area for other possible survivors.''